"On the second day of Autumn, my true love gave to me: Two pumpkin scones and a mega mug of coffee." This is the song I sang to M. last Wednesday when I first made these scones, but I didn't get around to posting the recipe until today, the seventh day of Autumn. I guess that means I should come up with more lyrics. Okay, thanks for asking: On the seventh day of Autumn, my true love gave to me: Seven roasted chestnuts, six bowls of soup, FIIIIIVE GOLDEN BEEEEEETS (that's five golden beets, but you have to read it the same way you sing it, right?), four winter squash, three French toasts, two pumpkin scones and a mega mug of coffee.

I made the scones again early Saturday morning for a coffee hour in my building, and they were a hit along with the Kale, Pine Nut & Parmigiano Scones. People are afraid of making scones. I had several people ask how to do it, as if it were a magical enterprise. Nope, just butter. Lots of butter. Lots of cold, unsalted, cubed-up European-style butter (the higher fat content makes a better scone). So what is the secret to a tender, flaky scone? 1. Use cream Keep the aforementioned butter cold. I put the tray of scones in the fridge for 20 minutes after they were cut into triangles to make sure the butter was super cold before baking them. Why is this important? If the butter is already warm when it goes in the oven, instead of helping the dough rise upward into glorious flaky layers, much of the butter will just melt onto your sheet pan and leave behind a short and dense scone. 2. Don't overwork the dough. I stir in the liquid ingredients with a large spoon until it starts to clump together, then I turn it out onto a floured surface and form the dough into a rectangle. Then I fold the dough in half on top of itself, turn the other direction and fold in half again. I used this recipe and the only thing I changed was to use cream instead of half-and-half.

1. Cut the butter into small cubes, then put into the freezer while you finish the rest of the recipe prep.

2. Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Combine the dry ingredients in the work bowl of your food processor: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Pulse several times until well-mixed.4. In a medium bowl, stir together the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, molasses, cream, the egg, and the vanilla extract.

5. Remove the butter from the freezer and put into the food processor with the flour mixture. Pulse several times until the butter is broken into smaller pea-sized pieces. Scrape the mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir with a spoon just until the dough starts clumping, then turn out onto a floured surface. Press the clumps together, then fold the dough over itself twice (this helps create lovely layers).6. Divide the dough in half (if you're a perfectionist like me, weigh the dough first so you get precisely the same amount in each.) Shape each half into a square. Cut each larger square into four equally-sized squares (so now you have a total of eight squares, yay math!). Cut each square into a triangle. Now you have sixteen scones. 7. Place the scones on the prepared parchment-lined baking sheets. At this point I like to refrigerate the scones for 20-30 minutes before baking just to make sure the butter is still super cold.8. Bake at 400 for 13-15 minutes, until the bottom of the scones are golden brown.9. Let the scones cool completely, and while that's happening, mix up the two glazes in two separate small bowls. 10. Spoon a little of the white glaze over the top of each scone, then drizzle the spiced pumpkin glaze over top. To make this easier (and prettier!), I put the spiced glaze in a piping bag with a small tip and then piped it on. Remember, scones are best eaten the day they are made! If you can't eat all sixteen (please don't try), find a few friends and/or neighbors and pawn them off. They'll like you (even more than they already do).